Witch Hunt

Last month, we wrote about whether The PIT would replicate the toxic atmosphere of its predecessor, DSI Comedy. This piece generated a vitriolic response from fritzbw: "The PIT is indeed suffering from a toxic atmosphere, but not the kind described in the article by Katie Fernelius. The PIT is suffering from the toxicity of a witch hunt, in which mudslingers are given free rein and not held to any standards of rational thinking. Just as Stalin's atrocities and abuses of power and didn't justify McCarthyism, Harvey Weinstein's horrible abuses don't justify the pillorying of [owner] Ali Farahnakian.

"In 2010, Ali made a joke during an improv class: 'Sometimes when my wife and I have sex, she seems so reluctant that I feel kind of rapey.' (That's right, he employed the very phrase that his accuser has now co-opted for her jokey description of the PIT.) In other words, he did his job. I don't know if such a joke would be appropriate in other work environments, but at an improv school, if you can't make a joke without being compared six years later to a man like the previous owner of DSI (who has been accused of actual sexual abuse), that would constitute a toxic environment, a censorious environment in which comedy can't possibly flourish."

Last week's Triangulator item on the Raleigh City Council described new Stefanie Mendell as "slow-growth." She takes exception to that description: "Once again I must take exception to being labelled as 'slow-growth.' I ran on a platform of responsible growth, smart growth, or planned growth—growth that is compatible with surroundings, respects the environment, and has appropriate infrastructure in place.

"Nicole Stewart's platform, if you check her campaign website, also talked about growth in Raleigh 'straining our natural resources.' So having me serve on the Growth & Natural Resources Committee is not necessarily going to have 'ramifications down the line.' I'd also like to know what is considered the opposite of 'slow-growth'—is it "fast growth"?—and what does that imply?

"Admittedly I am new to politics, but I am confounded and disappointed that both the N&O and the INDY continue to advance this 'slow-growth' narrative, seemingly in the interests of stirring up controversy and dissension. The current council was sworn in just over a week ago. How about giving us some time to coalesce as a governing body under the leadership of Mayor McFarlane? And how about giving us the benefit of the doubt on 'slow growth' versus 'fast growth' until you see some results?"

In response to Sarah Willets's story on a Durham church that is offering sanctuary to an undocumented immigrant facing deportation, john1050 writes the following: "What part of illegal don't they understand? Congress is considering the DACAs plus all other illegal aliens in a bill in Congress.

"The illegal-alien DACAs were minors smuggled in by their illegal alien parents in violation of immigration laws. The DACAs are now twenty to thirty-six years old. The DACAs demand a 'clean' act to pass Congress. The 'clean' act includes citizenship for their family, chain migration, and basically the end to immigration laws. [Fact check: Not really.] Current U.S. law gives the DACA children (the anchor babies) born in the U.S. instant citizenship, so in many cases the anchor babies have dual citizenship from their mothers' homeland and U.S. citizenship. The adult DACAs are now having children that get instant citizenship. One estimate is that the DACAs have had over three hundred thousand anchor babies.

"The DACA program is only a small portion of the number of illegal aliens that will become the majority of voters in the U.S. Ask the taxpayers what they think another forty million illegal aliens who become citizens will do to the economy and their children's and grandchildren's future employment in competition with the twenty-to-thirty-six-year-old DACAs and other illegal aliens. Enforce the immigration laws."